Leapmotor, the China-headquartered electric vehicle (EV) producer that counts corporates Dahua Technology, Shanghai Electric and CRRC among its investors, has filed for an initial public offering on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
The company did not disclose the number of shares it plans to offer or the size of the offering, but sources privy to the development told Bloomberg in November 2021 it was aiming to raise in excess of $1bn through the IPO.
Founded in 2015, Leapmotor manufactures smart EVs including compact cars and sports utility vehicles, in addition to electronic parts, hardware and software that support intelligent power and self-driving systems.
The company sold more than 43,000 vehicles in 2021, representing a 443% increase from the year before. It logged about $488m in revenue last year, four times that of 2020, through its net loss grew from $147m to $409m during the same period.
Hangzhou’s municipal government provided $472m to help Leapmotor close a $708m funding round in August 2021, seven months after a $665m series B featuring a Hefei municipal fund as well as SDIC Chuangyi Industrial Fund Management, Hangzhou Jiuzhi Investment Management and Shanghai Yonghua Capital Management.
Jinhua Zhongche Fund had supplied $51.5m in series A2 funding for the company in 2019 in return for a 5.1% stake, and it was revealed video surveillance technology provider Dahua Technology – which co-founded Leapmotor – held a 15.5% shareholding once the deal closed.
Energy utility Shanghai Electric and rolling stock maker CRRC had joined Sequoia Capital China, Industrial Securities and Gopher Asset in Leapmotor’s $288m series A round the previous year at a $1.15bn valuation. Sequoia China had already led its $56.7m pre-series A round in 2017.
The company intends to use the IPO proceeds to conduct further research and development, increase manufacturing capacity and boost marketing efforts. China International Capital Corp, Citigroup, JP Morgan and CCB International joint sponsors for the listing.
Image courtesy of Zhejiang Zero Run Technology Co Ltd.
